everywomanover29 blog

Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

Archives for September 2011

8 Simple Tips for Relieving Stress

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(1) Eat real whole food and skip the junk food, processed foods and sugar. Simply go back to eating the way your grandparents ate!

(2) Eat breakfast and make sure to include protein (like eggs, meat, whey, fish) to help keep blood sugar levels even through the day and therefore reduce stress

(3) Also eat three meals and two healthy snacks to keep blood sugar levels even. Some great snack ideas: some fresh fruit, a boiled egg, grass-fed beef jerky and even a packed lunch.  Raw baby carrots and ornamental green/yellow/red peppers are crunchy and tasty, especially dipped in hummus.  Another easy snack are left-overs from dinner, such as a chicken drumstick or wing.  Cans of sardines, oysters and salmon are good for emergencies if you get stuck at an airport or arrive late when traveling.  Pumpkin seeds are a great source of tryptophan and zinc, both of which help improve mood.

(4) Pass on the coffee (yes, really!) especially if it makes you more anxious and affects your sleep – try herbal caffeine-free teas instead. Licorice herbal tea is delicious, rooibos herbal tea from South Africa is rich in antioxidants and chamomile tea is calming.  If you can’t function without coffee and use it to give you energy then you need to figure out why – low iron, burned out adrenals, low catecholamines or underactive thyroid?

(5) Get outside and do some exercise – to raise serotonin levels to help you feel less blue and worried.  You’ll also get some vitamin D which improves mood and reduces stress.

(6) Enjoy yoga regularly – yoga, tai chi and guided imagery actually raises GABA (a calming neurotransmitter) to help you feel less overwhelmed

(7) Consider using a good multivitamin, a good B complex and the amazing amino acid supplements tryptophan or GABA for short-term relief of anxiety, worry and stress

(8) Slow down, make “me-time” a priority and learn to say no. Take care of yourself!

Chef Rachel’s Review of The Antianxiety Food Solution

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Chef Rachel, The Healthy Cooking Coach, did a great review of my book The Antianxiety Food Solution and is offering a free copy of the book to her blog readers and those following her on social media.

We met a few years ago at a nutrition conference and have stayed connected. I was presenting on food and mood, and Chef Rachel did a wonderful cooking demo!

Read on for the review and see below for details of the book giveaway…

“Most people take food for granted. They don’t realize the profound affect it can have on their physical, mental, and emotional health. Our culture doesn’t teach us about this. We’re taught to think of what we eat as somehow separate from the workings of our minds and bodies. We’re taught to take prescription drugs when something goes awry.

But, the drugs have side effects, many of them as bad or worse than the conditions they are supposed to treat. “After decades of studies and billions of dollars of pharmaceutical industry funding, the best research findings suggest that conventional prescription medications are only marginally superior—if not equivalent—to placebos for the treatment of psychiatric disorders,” says James Lake, MD., President of the International Network of Integrative Mental Health.

“Physicians often advise their patients about reasonable dietary changes for the prevention and treatment of medical illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes; however, mental health professionals often overlook the importance of nutrition for both maintaining good mental health and treating specific mental health problems” says Lake.

I believe the reason is that few doctors have studied nutrition in depth and fewer still understand the intimate connection between what we eat and how we feel and function. They somehow miss the fact that what we eat is supposed to provide the building blocks for all of our cells, tissues, and organs. In many cases the food we eat is not only lacking what we need but also supplying extraneous substances that contribute to further imbalances in our brains and body chemistry.

You can read the rest of Chef Rachel’s great review here.

And if you’d like to win a copy of my book go here and follow the instructions to be entered into the drawing!

You can learn more about my book here and by searching for “anxiety” on my blog.